Singapore's workforce shrinks in 2017 for the first time since 2003, but more locals have jobs

2017 news was inundated with articles on the increase of locals demanding more job opportunities in their home country of Singapore. Singapore’s government has been stricter in releasing work permits for foreigners which could help locals get the jobs they’re looking for. According to this article, it would be safe to say that Singapore has succeeded in opening more employment for locals.

This is due to several factors including the restructuring of corporations. A few questions come to mind when analyzing this trend: What will be the impact on relocation with the increasing demand of local employment versus the current foreigners in Singapore? What will the impact be on these expats that are currently on a local package? What will the impact be on the foreign workforce going into Singapore given their stricter policies on handing out work permits?

Currently, the industry most impacted is the service industry and we may see a wider impact on other industries as we get further into 2018. Taking these factors into account, we may see current expats in Singapore willing to consider moving to other APAC destinations and corporations in Singapore shifting to the idea of hiring more locals.

{

Mr Tay said that despite the cyclical uptrend in 2017 and a positive outlook into 2018, he would expect to still see "pockets of layoffs due to technological and digital disruption with companies and businesses re-examining their strategies/focus".
He noted that the decline in total employment was due to foreign workers being released in the marine and construction sectors, which are affected by cyclical weakness. There are expected to be good job opportunities in the manufacturing sector and services sectors such as in infocomm and media, finance and insurance, healthcare and engineering, he said.
"The labour movement will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners to support workers and help them to take on new opportunities and progress in their careers. We will also work closely with the tripartite partners to operationalise the many industry transformation maps," Mr Tay